Public inconvenience and a waste of useful space

BY INDIKA MANOJ AND KUSAL CHAMATH More than 12 out of 20 market stalls constructed near the Soysapura housing complex by the Housing Development Authority have been closed for about five years, much to the anxiety of the traders who carry on business by the roadside. The traders pointed out that it was just another failed project of the previous government that resulted in the waste of colossal public funds. The affected traders pointed out that they erected temporary stalls to run business and that they were facing the threat of being displaced if Municipal Council demolished their stalls. They said they had been warned that their stalls were unauthorized erections obstructing the access road to the housing scheme.

The traders expressed concern about leaving the market stall complex to the mercy of the elements in this manner without handing them over to the traders running business by the roadsides amid hardship. Meanwhile residents of the Soysapura housing scheme said the market stall complex was a project implemented on the request of thousands of people living in the housing scheme who had been compelled to make a long way to the main road to buy their requirements, but it was sad that the project failed. They said the temporary stalls standing by the roadside caused obstructions to traffic and that it often resulted in accidents. The traders requested the National Housing Authority to refurbish the market stalls that had been closed for a long time and hand them over to the traders running business by the roadsides. They warned that thieves would break open the stalls and steal electrical fittings, doors and windows unless steps were taken to open them soon.